“The blueberry ones are mine,” he said, walking behind us. “Touch them and meet a grisly fate.”
Penny scoffed. “I fight boars for a living. You think I fear a weakling like you?”
“Weakling?” Callum flashed a lopsided grin. “I’ll make you regret those words.”
The two of them started wrestling. Lightheartedly, of course, putting each other in headlocks and jabbing the other’s sides.
Rowan stole another croissant from the counter and watched them as he chewed. “Come on. You can hit him harder than that.”
Laughing, I poured each of them a cup of coffee and plated some snacks. Blueberry muffins and sliced strawberries. It ended the fight in an instant, luring them over to the table. Miles scooped rice into bowls and handed them out too.
“Let me know if you change your mind about the quest,” Penny said between hearty bites of sweet rice. “Always room for one more.”
“Tempting offer, but I can’t.” I offered her a regretful smile over my shoulder as I rolled out dough for more cookies. Genuine regret too. Exploring caves sounded kind of fun. “We’re catering the royal ball.”
“Ah, right!” She nodded, shoving another bite into her mouth. “Perhaps next time?”
“Next time,” I said, ignoring the glares from Callum and Rowan. Even if I had to sneak out to do it. Stealthy Muffin.
When she grinned, she had the same dimple as her brother. “I’ll hold you to it, Freckles.”
“Hey, none of that.” Callum pointed at her. “You’re not allowed to give Ev cute nicknames.”
Penny stuck out her tongue at him.
She stayed for an hour or so, then said she had to leave to meet her party and make preparations for the quest. I told her to stop by before she left. Before an expedition, my knights always got a travel satchel filled with snacks for the road. She deserved one too.
Once the café closed, Alice, Peter, and Miles helped me clean the dining room and kitchen before leaving. Our last day of work until after the ball. Hard to believe it was so close. I felt behind on everything. Almost dying would do that, I guess. So much to do and so little time.
For the rest of the afternoon though? I planned to escape into the pages of a book. I grabbed one from the reading parlor and stepped onto the front porch, dropping down into the comfy, cushioned chair Lake had made.
He was a total handyman, always fixing things around the cottage. Building things too, like chairs, bookshelves, and side tables. His current project, aside from the smaller trinkets and chess pieces he whittled, was a bigger bed frame that would allow all of us to sleep together comfortably.
I curled up in the porch chair and let the novel take me on a sea voyage, where the sun blazing down on the deck was hot and the pirate crew even hotter. A murmur of voices came from inside the cottage before the door opened and Callum stepped out.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked, holding a leatherbound book at his side.
“I’d love it if you did.”
He rewarded me with that cinnamon roll smile, eyes crinkling at the edges and dimple on display. I scooched over, and he sat beside me. We then read together in a comfortable silence.
The sun periodically passed behind a cloud, and the sudden shade made the air cooler. The breeze did too. It swept through the surrounding trees and danced among the leaves like a gentle applause.
Not that long ago, I’d realized my feelings for Callum and agonized over them, believing nothing could ever happen with us. Believing him to be out of my reach. But there we were, together just as we were meant to be.
As we sat on the porch, both lost in our books, he shifted his weight to press against my side. The moment our eyes met, there was a tug in my chest. An invisible tether that connected us. As best friends. As soulmates.
Fate might have brought us together, but I happily chose him.
And always would.
***
Maddox was feral that night.
As soon as he got home, I’d sensed his tension. It weighed heavily on his shoulders but also in his eyes. They tightened when meeting mine, revealing the worry he often tried to hide from me.
The knights had been on a constant rotation of patrols, along with joint training with the king’s unit of mages to better defend against magical attacks. These were no ordinary mercenaries. If the rest in Nocturne were even half as powerful as the one who’d attacked me, mere shields and swords would be useless against them.
